Lesson 18. Ablaut Patterns

Last week we have discussed a very specific and complex grammar topic – German regular and irregular verbs. Today we are going to continue our talk about irregular verbs and cover one of the most important topics – Ablaut patterns.

What is Ablaut? Definitely, a German word.

Some verbs systematically change vowels In their root to some different vowels. There are certain shift patterns. This variation of vowels is called Ablaut.

The same phenomenon exists in English too. For example, drink – drank – drunk. You see how the vowel is changed. The difference in German is only that there are way more verbs that change their vowels in the root, so more that it has become necessary to associate groups of verbs with certain classes, the so called Ablaut classes.

The Ablaut classes are called Ablautreihen in German. There are 7 Ablautreihen in German. I don’t think I should mention that these verbs have to be memorized.

die 1. Ablautreihe

Infinitiv

Imperfekt

Partizip II

a)

ei

ie

ie

bleiben

blieb

geblieben

leihen

lieh

geliehen

b)

ei

i

i

beissen

biss

gebissen

schreiten

schritt

geschritten

die 2. Ablautreihe

Infinitiv

Imperfekt

Partizip II

a)

ie

о (long)

о (long)

bieten

bot

geboten

frieren

froh

gefrohren

b)

ie

о (short)

о (short)

gießen

goß

gegossen

schießen

schoß

geschossen

die 3. Ablautreihe

Infinitiv

Imperfekt

Partizip II

a)

e

a

o

helfen

half

geholfen

sterben

starb

gestorben

b)

i

a

u

finden

fand

gefunden

binden

band

gebunden

c)

i

a

o

beginnen

begann

begonnen

gewinnen

gewann

gewonnen

die 4. Ablautreihe

Infinitiv

Imperfekt

Partizip II

a)

е (long)

а (long)

о (long)

empfehlen

empfahl

empfohlen

stehlen

stahl

gestohlen

b)

е (short)

а (long)

о (long)

sprechen

sprach

gesprochen

die 5. Ablautreihe

Infinitiv

Imperfekt

Partizip II

a)

e

a

e

geben

gab

gegeben

lesen

las

gelesen

sehen

sah

gesehen

b)

i

a

e

bitten

bat

gebeten

liegen

lag

gelegen

sitzen

saß

gesessen

die 6. Ablautteihe

Infinitiv

Imperfekt

Partizip II

а

u

a

fahren

fuhr

gefahren

laden

lud

geladen

tragen

trug

getragen

die 7. Ablautreihe

Infinitiv

Imperfekt

Partizip II

а

ie

a

fallen

fiel

gefallen

schlafen

schlief

geschlafen

lassen

ließ

gelassen

Of course, there are exceptions even to these patterns, verbs that don’t belong to any of the groups because they have their own, often unpredictable, vowel shifts. However, if you memorize these ones you are all set and will not have any difficulties in building different forms using German verbs.

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4 thoughts on “Lesson 18. Ablaut Patterns”

Fantastic information. I’ve been studying German now for over two years and have never been introduced to the Ablaut verb categorisation. It’s going to really help me with learning verb conjugation and remembering those verbs that I MUST memorise as vowel changing. I find verbs one of the more difficult areas of learning German. Thanks again for the help. Good stuff!

Yes, I studied some German sometime back, but this one I am learning now is more interesting than the first time. Those things that I failed to understand the first time are now becoming clearer and clearer. I am also interested in the spoken German. My biggest challenge are the vocabulary and pronouns.

These lessons are very thorough, clear and helpful in pointing out patterns to make it easier to grasp the difficulties of German grammar. I copy and memorise whole tables and come back to these pages frequently to review. Thank you for making these lessons available. I recommend them highly to anyone who wants a thorough grounding in the language.